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Ancestralizing the Present was a free event hosted at The Dance Centre on June 10, 2017, with performances by Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers), Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield) and Aeriosa. The event marks the extension of Mique’l Dangeli’s doctoral thesis “Dancing Sovereignty: Protocol and Politics in Northwest Coast First Nations Dance” and it involved “taking the time to get to know one another” – an approach that Dangeli believes to be closer to “reconciliation” than projects that simply tick the boxes of inclusivity, or demand that Indigenous artists perform settlers’ expectations of Indigenous culture.

Co-produced by Toffan Rhythm Projects and the Harbourfront Centre, the inaugural year of the Toronto International Tap Dance Festival featured performances, workshops, panel discussions and an all-are-welcome improvisational dance jam. As the final performance of the festival, The Jam provided a platform for dancers of all ages and levels to perform.

Assemblée Internationale 2017 took place this year from April 30 through May 6 at Canada’s National Ballet School. This international event takes place every four years and brings together training schools from all over the world to collaborate, learn and create.

On April 18, a new award that acknowledges excellence in critical writing and commentary on the visual, performing and literary arts will be celebrated in Vancouver. The Max Wyman Award for Cultural Commentary, or “The Max,” is the brainchild of community leader and philanthropist Dr. Yosef Wosk.

Since 2005, the Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) has issued a message on behalf of the dance community in Canada as part of International Dance Day (IDD) on April 29. This year’s IDD Ambassador is Montréal-based dance artist and Sinha Danse Artistic Director Roger Sinha. He was invited to share his message about dance’s integral place in the lives of Canadians.

Holly Bright of Crimson Coast Dance Society was awarded one of two 2017 John Hobday Awards in Arts Management, Salomé Nieto won the 2017 VIDF Choreographic Award, Karen Kain, artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada (NBoC) has chosen to mentor Robert Binet, a choreographic associate of NBoC, as part of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Mentorship Program, Meredith Kalaman and Arash Khakpour received Dance Victoria’s Chrystal Dance Prize for Independent Dance Artsis, Katherine Semchuk won the New Work Award from Good Women Dance Collective. In other news, Ballet BC announced the appointment of John Clark as the company’s new Executive Director.

Don’t Forget the Money! is the first in a new series of forums presented by Mississauga’s Blackwood Gallery called Working with Concepts. The public discussion was aimed at navigating the unique labour processes in the interaction of artistic discipline of dance and various contemporary art contexts.

In February 2017, the board of directors of the Canadian Society for Dance Studies / La Société canadienne d’études en dance and the organization’s founder, Amy Bowring, announced its dissolution, citing low membership renewals and consequently less access to administrative funding.

Two recent events in Toronto allowed the Ontario dance community to come together to support and mentor the next generation of dancers while also showcasing the diversity of the current dance scene in the province.

Natasha Sheehan and Angelo Greco, both of the San Francisco Ballet, won the twelfth international Erik Bruhn Prize, the Prix de la danse de Montréal went to Édouard Lock, Daina Ashbee, Sophie Corriveau and Gilles Savary, Atlantic Ballet Theatre was named a 2016 Champion of Cultural Diversity by the New Brunswick Multicultural Council, Travis Lim of Vancouver won two gold medals at the 2016 International Dance Organization (IDO) Hip Hop Championships, Paul Tanguay won the National Arts Centre’s 2016 Award for Distinguished Contribution to Touring, Vivine Scarlett and Tess Vosper won Dance Ontario Awards, France Geoffroy of Corpuscule Danse won the Prix À part entière and Ontario Contact presented Dreamwalker Dance of Toronto with their 2016 Artist of the Year Award.

This fall, on behalf of the Canadian Arts Coalition, 160 arts advocates gathered at the nation’s capital to speak to parliamentarians for this year’s Arts Day on the Hill and the Canadian Dance Assembly’s Kate Cornell played a central role.

For high-performance elite dancers and athletes alike, the transition from being at the peak of their careers into the next chapter of their lives can approach quickly and, sometimes, by surprise. The 2016 LEAP conference focused on bringing the two communities together to further educate everyone involved about the issues experienced around transitions.

The first national symposium for dance and well-being took place November 4-5, 2016, in Toronto at Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS). It was hosted by the National Centre for Dance Therapy, a division of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal.